ABSTRACT
This chapter presents an approach to qualitative content analysis for studies of visual online material, including social media. It encourages the use of semiotic or multimodal theory for the systematic understanding of the use of visual devices in communication. Thereby, more nuanced research questions can lead the way – rather than those that better fit quantitative research (e.g., the distribution of men and women) – for studies of patterns in the use of settings, color, objects, typography, composition, as well as characters, and what kind of meaning potential the use of these communicative resources contributes to creating. With clear definitions in a coding manual, such aspects can be observed across fairly extensive material, to then be quantified and interpreted with careful consideration of the communicative and social context. The chapter furthermore argues that qualitative content analysis benefits from tying in closer with a qualitative research tradition. For this purpose, more emphasis is placed on internal coding reliability, rather than external replicability that forces researchers in the direction of quantitative analysis and simple content. It also emphasizes the importance of transparency in the presentation of data and analysis, allowing for direct evaluation of the claims and overall quality of the analysis.
